Strawberry Fruit-by-the-Foot: Make It At Home!

Now that I’ve started this little blog project, I’m occasionally getting suggestions from friends and family about what I should try, and then subsequently post about. My girlfriend, Allison, sent me an email that included this link to a Homemade Strawberry Fruit Roll Up recipe. She wanted to make them, but didn’t want to have a gooey failure on her hands should they not turn out. She also knows that I’m a keener and will usually hop on board when it comes to any sort of homemade/DIY/this-is-frugal type of project. And this is even more true when I can recreate something store-bought, but without the chemicals and preservatives that usually come along for the ride.

So, I need to send a big virtual Thank You! to Allison, as these homemade fruit leathers were a huge hit in our house. Such a hit that they only lasted two days, leaving my children (and my husband) licking their fingers in smug satisfaction.

The recipe for Homemade Fruit-by-the-Foot is simple.

(as always, a downloadable PDF of this recipe will be available at the bottom of the post – so you don’t have to hunt through my verbosity in order to make these. You’re welcome.)

You need:

1 lb of fresh strawberries, washed and hulled

3/4 cup of sugar

1 tsp lemon juice (the original recipe says “fresh lemon juice”, so I thought cheeky thoughts as I squeezed out a tablespoon of juice from the bottle)

You will also need to start this recipe fairly early in the day. Notice how both of my helpers are still clad in pyjamas? This because your happy little fruit leathers will have to spend at least 5 hours – yes FIVE HOURS – in the oven. We started prepping our fruit at around 7:30 in the morning. I was obviously still suffering from Early Morning Hazy Decision Syndrome, or else I would have done a little bit of wrangling when it came to those straggly hair situations.

Also, it seems as though Lila has not been without a tattoo for weeks. How am I only noticing this when I am typing out these posts?

Mix your three ingredients together, then mash your strawberries with a potato masher. Fight with your sister over whose turn it is to barely make a dent in a strawberry. Build up enough tension in your mother’s shoulders so that when it is her turn to mash the fruit, it takes her only two minutes to turn them into pulp. “Hulk mash berries! Rarrrhhh!”

The berries have to sit for about a half hour, stewing in their juices and breaking down into a beautiful syrupy mess. It’s tough not to just dump it onto ice cream and call it a day. Instead, dump it into a blender and turn it into a smooth puree (about 1-2 min).

Cook the puree over medium/high heat until it boils. Let it simmer for about a half hour. The puree will thicken and stick to itself. When you drag your spatula through the puree, it will leave little “roads”, as the puree heaps to itself. Now you’re ready for business.

Spread the puree – and this is the tough part – onto two cookie sheets lined with silicone liners. Parchment will work as well. Try not to let the puree spread too thin in spots. This will just turn into a brittle candy and not be flexible. You won’t be able to fill a whole cookie sheet, so don’t worry about that. Just try to keep an even layer of about 1/8″ puree.

After you’ve fought with the puree and finally created an even, intact layer of gooey goodness, then you pop it into your oven. Because you are essentially dehydrating these strawberries without a traditional food dehydrator, the oven has to be extremely low. My oven will go down to 175 degrees. The original recipe says that if your oven doesn’t go down that low, you can “hack” your oven temperature down by opening the oven door.

Bake the fruit leathers for 5 hours. I know. It seems crazy. Just set your timer and do something else.

After about 5 hours (and this depends on your oven temp, so check sooner if your oven had to run a bit higher), check your fruit leather. It should be tacky, but not sticky or gooey. Take the parchment/liners and fruit leather off of the pans and let them cool entirely on wire racks.

After they’ve cooled, peel off the fruit leather and place them onto wax paper. Be sure to leave an overhang of about an inch. This is imperative in the “rolling up” process. Cut the fruit leather into one inch strips with kitchen scissors.

Fold the overhang over the strip prior to rolling; this is to prevent Fruit-by-the-Foot stickage. Continue rolling up the fruit leather until you have a tidy little roll. Keep this up until all of your fruit leathers have now become strawberry rolls-of-awesomeness.

While this tutorial is for Fruit-by-the-Foot, I did make some larger “Fruit Roll-up” sized leathers. They worked in essentially the same way as the rolls, only they were cut into larger squares. After comparing the two, I felt that for my little beaners, a smaller roll was the perfect size for them. And while there aren’t any nasty chemicals or dyes in this snack, there is sugar. Oh delicious, beautiful sugar…. you convince my children to recreate scenes from “Lord of the Flies”. A smaller portion-size is perfect for our house.

And when Hubby is snacking right alongside the kiddos, it’s nice to have a higher yield in a recipe. I’d say that the grown-ups in the house enjoyed these strawberry wonders just as much – if not more – than the under-5 set did.

Let me know if any of you wild and wonderful people try out this recipe. I promise that you will not be disappointed!

WelcomeI'm Tara. This is a space for me to share my "makes" as well as my messes. I love beautiful things, funny people, and a good cup of tea. If I can drag my children into my creative ventures, I will. If they haven't inherited craftiness, they'll learn it!

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42 comments

April 10, 2013

Melissa Whitcher

Wow!! These look delicious! I can’t wait to try them. 3 ingredients makes them even more tempting. Thanks so much for sharing. I have enjoyed looking around your blog tonight. I found you over at Lil’ Luna. Pinning for later.

By the way, I would love to have you link up this post at our party beginning tonight at 10:00 EST.

Tara @ Surburble

Heather May

I am definitely going to do this wit my kids! We have almost eliminated all dyes and non-organic stuff from our home so this would be a perfect treat! I am hosting today at ttp://www.frugalfitfamily.com – swing by if you can!

Tara @ Surburble

hi

This looks so delicious! My daughter is obsessed with the fruity snacks, so I’ll definitely have to try this out. Pinned a few of your projects – new follower! Take Care!Kim @ Two Ten Designshttp://www.twotendesigns.com

Tara @ Surburble

amy of while wearing heels

Yum! I’m still in my PJs, shamelessly, so I guess I could start to make my own batch :). These look delicious, love that you got your little ones involved. Especially love that your husband licked his fingers in smug satisfaction after eating them.

Tara @ Suburble

Lisa

By the way, it turned out AMAZING. I’m making my third batch today. My 2 yr old daughter has recently had to switch to an all organic diet, because of allergies to pesticides and artificial coloring. She’s been so sad she can’t eat fruit by the foot anymore. Your recipe has saved me!

Christoper

Appreciating the hard work you put into your website and in depth
information you offer. It’s nice to come across a blog every once in a while that isn’t the same out of date
rehashed material. Great read! I’ve bookmarked your site and I’m including your RSS feeds to my Google account.

www.greenjuicingrecipes.com

I used to be suggested this website via my cousin.
I am now not sure whether this post is written by means of him as nobody
else realize such specified approximately my difficulty.
You’re wonderful! Thanks!

Danielle

Ok, so this question may seem strange, but what color red are these in the end? I’m making a super man cake and want to use this recipe for the cape that drapes over the back. What is your opinion on how this would look? Thank you!

Tara

Danielle – I don’t think that’s a weird question at all. I’d say that they end up being a dark red – so not quite as bright as the store-bought Fruit Roll-Ups. I think that they’d look great as Superman capes, though!

If you do this, you have to send me a picture. I’m dying to see what this cake looks like!